Episode 66
The chilling sensation that made her heart feel as though it had dropped lasted only a moment.
“……Mr. Osmond?”
Even so, she was still displeased with the person who had appeared out of nowhere and startled her, so Sasha frowned and looked up at Cedric with an unkind gaze. Yes. It was Cedric Osmond. That Cedric Osmond who had schemed with his friend to seduce her and make a profit.
Sasha’s gaze naturally lowered toward Osmond’s legs. She had recalled how he had clung to Dilton Manor, making the absurd excuse that, though no bones were broken, his muscles seemed to have been injured.
As soon as Cedric noticed Sasha’s gaze, he quickly hid his left leg behind his right with an awkward expression.
Still clumsy, aren’t you? The leg you hurt back then was the right one.
“It’s been a while. Are you feeling all right now?”
Her heart was still pounding quickly, but Sasha returned to her usual composed expression and asked Cedric.
“Of course. I’m all better now. I caused the household a great deal of trouble. Robert as well.”
“Not at all. Come to think of it, I don’t believe I saw any articles about a lawsuit involving the two of you. Did you simply decide to settle things amicably and let it pass?”
At the mention of Isaac Pinscher, Cedric flinched and stiffened.
Paying no mind to Cedric’s frozen face, Sasha smiled and continued speaking.
“You made the right choice. It was a commotion caused by alcohol, after all. If it were to be brought up again now, it would only be a loss for all three of you.”
“……Ah, yes.”
Cedric answered reluctantly and scratched the back of his neck. It was one of his habits that came out unconsciously whenever he was uncomfortable. Naturally, it was a habit of his she did not know.
Perhaps because the rainy season was approaching, the weather was unusually clear. It had been that way for several days now. Under the bright, clean sunlight, Cedric Osmond’s face was beautiful beyond compare, and Sasha gazed at him with a dry look containing a moderate amount of admiration, as though appreciating a work of art, just as she had from the first time she saw him.
“By the way, what brings you here?”
Sasha asked, and soon she noticed he was carrying a certain briefcase.
“Do you have business nearby? An appointment with a client?”
“No. It’s not…… anything like that.”
She could practically hear Robert clicking his tongue. If it had been Robert, he would have brazenly lied and said yes. Not only that, he would have excitedly boasted about what kind of business it was.
Cedric did not possess that sort of bold bravado. It was a disposition he had lacked from birth. His true nature was so rigid that he could not tolerate his own lies, and even now, he was poor at lying. Cedric’s eyes darted for a moment, and he sighed. Showing his discomfort plainly without trying to hide it, he soon answered honestly.
“……I work at an accountant’s office nearby.”
“……Oh.”
“It’s just odd jobs. Not even enough to be called a secretary. I simply run a few errands here and there.”
Sasha stared expressionlessly at Cedric, who was revealing information that could be considered shameful about himself, not merely boldly but without holding anything back. She had already dealt with someone of this nature once before. Now, she was living very close to him.
At his extremely defensive attitude, Sasha gazed at him with a faint glimmer of understanding. Cedric had clearly decided after that incident that Sasha disliked him, and he was no doubt worried she might spread what she had seen to others.
It was a fairly wise judgment. In the process of correcting an exaggerated rumor, people’s mocking gazes tended to turn not toward the one who had inflated the rumor, but toward the person at its center.
“You don’t need to explain yourself so earnestly, Mr. Osmond. I was raised by my grandmother, so I am somewhat conservative, but not in that sense.”
“…….”
“I read in some book that an era will come when the value of labor grows higher and higher. I agree with that opinion. I won’t tell the adults around me, so please rest assured.”
Though she knew perfectly well what Cedric was worried about, Sasha naturally steered it in another direction and reassured him.
In any case, as Sasha said, it was an era in which more and more nobles were coming to understand the value of labor. The nature of it was slightly different, but one only had to look at business for an immediate example. These days, instead of appointing agents, nobles personally engaged in business like the newly rich.
In the case of impoverished fallen nobles like Cedric, it was already common to see them mixing among commoners and working. It would become an even more common sight in the future. Every industry was developing at a frightening speed, and with the limitations of agriculture becoming clear, more and more young people were moving to regions with factories. It was no longer an age in which only those who owned vast lands and employed many tenant farmers could live in grand style.
“……Ah, that was not the part I was worried about……. But thank you for saying so.”
Cedric muttered with a slightly awkward expression and lowered the hand that had been rubbing the back of his neck. Beneath his blond hair, more disheveled than usual, he blinked his blue eyes and stared at Sasha.
Only now did he look at her properly.
“More importantly, is the office near here? Where is your errand taking you?”
“It takes about thirty minutes on foot.”
“Then I’ll give you a ride. Let’s go by carriage.”
“No, that’s all right.”
“Don’t refuse. There is a reason no one walks when the sun is blazing on a day like this. Hurry.”
As though she found it absurd, Sasha looked back at Cedric and dragged him along.
“I truly am fine, Miss Grayson. I am fine.”
“Weren’t you the one who stopped me because you wanted to talk with me anyway? You even blocked my way.”
“No, that was……. I apologize. I normally never do that.”
“I know. You seem like the type.”
Sasha replied with an indifferent face and, in the end, brought him outside the wall. Conveniently, Dilton’s carriage was standing there, ready to be boarded. The young maid Roseanne was sweating profusely as if she had run all the way there. Her eyes widened at the unfamiliar young man her mistress had brought with her, then, upon seeing his beauty, she parted her lips slightly as if entranced.
“Roseanne. We’ll be dropping this gentleman off on the way. Mr. Osmond, where did you say your destination was?”
Cedric had no choice but to board the carriage with Sasha. Roseanne, who had been utterly excited at the thought of riding in the same carriage as a handsome man, was driven out to the coachman’s seat by Sasha’s remark that they had something important to discuss, and she sat side by side with the coachman.
The carriage door closed, and Sasha sat down opposite Cedric, took a towel from her bosom, and handed it to him. “Thank you.” Cedric accepted it without refusal and hurriedly wiped away the sweat that had already gathered on his forehead and even his chin.
Somehow, he had managed to create an opportunity for the two of them to be alone, but Cedric could not easily open his mouth. He recalled the story he and Robert had heard from that unidentified man.
“That is a fake. It’s a fake pretending to be the real one.”
What the shabby-looking man had said, as if declaring it.
“So, to sum it up, that woman is a fraud who, despite being a fake, is trying to seize the real one’s inheritance.”
Then he remembered how Robert, after hearing the man’s words and quickly grasping the situation, had declared it in summary.
Robert’s eyes had gleamed as he spoke to Cedric in a commanding tone.
“Approach her again and check. Confirm whether she really has that scar.”
“Come to think of it, do you have any siblings, Mr. Osmond?”
Cedric’s gaze, which had unconsciously been drifting toward the nape of Sasha’s neck, hurriedly pulled away. More flustered than a person who had been burned, he asked with a pale face, “Pardon?”
“I was just curious.”
“……I have one younger sister.”
“Is that so? How old is she?”
It was nothing more than a conversation meant to break the silence. Even though he knew it was an extremely simple and common topic Sasha had brought up out of consideration in her own way, Cedric could not bear the guilty pang in his stomach.
“……She is twelve. She attends Rox Academy.”
“I’ve heard of it. Isn’t it famous for its difficult entrance exam? Your sister must be very clever. You must be proud.”
“……Yes.”
“I understand the tuition is no small sum either. You’ll have to work hard, Mr. Osmond.”
At those words, Cedric raised his head and looked at Sasha. It was not the smiling face he had always seen. It was a suitably indifferent face.
In other words, thinking of his younger sister, he should earn money honestly. She had not said it in some intimidating way, as though warning him.
Cedric realized he had been overreacting all this time. He felt a little ashamed that he had acted defensively, assuming in advance that she would retaliate against him. She harbored no feelings toward him, let alone resentment. She was merely indifferent to him. She had no interest in him at all.
“Miss Grayson.”
“Yes.”
Do you know that strange rumors are going around about your identity? Are you truly a fake pretending to be the real one?
Cedric felt as if he might vomit from the words tickling the inside of his throat.
“Do you not particularly hate me? Yet you show me this kindness.”
“Not particularly. Why do you ask all of a sudden?”
“From the beginning, I approached you with impure intentions, pretending I had fallen for you.”
“…….”
Cedric continued.
“From the beginning, I was lying to you.”
“There are many people like that, Mr. Osmond.”
She answered as though it were nothing.
“Even if not you, Mr. Osmond, there are many. How many people do you think truly like me?”
“Miss Grayson, you are more than enough to—”
“I don’t mean simply taking a liking to someone based on appearance. If you put it that way, then I did fall for you at first sight, if only for a moment, Mr. Osmond.”
“……Pardon?”
“Why else do you think I chose you as my fourth partner out of all those many people?”
Cedric’s face flushed bright red, and for a moment, he could not give any reply to her words. Just as he was staring at her stupidly and belatedly about to open his mouth, the carriage stopped, and the clear-voiced maid Roseanne announced that they had arrived.
“You should go.”
At Sasha’s words, Cedric answered, “Yes,” and awkwardly rose from his seat.
“Then please stay well until we meet again.”
“……I hope you stay well too, Miss Grayson.”
Their farewell ended there. By the time he came to his senses, the carriage was leaving, and far from uncovering her identity, he was standing in the middle of the street, his face red because he had been told he was beautiful.
Even though he had heard that he was beautiful so often he was sick of it, damn it.
Cedric let out a low sigh and rubbed his face with both hands.